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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Hair Do, Makeup Don't

Are you ready for a long post full of pictures of me without makeup on? No? Well, too bad.

Cathleya asked me (on twitter) to post about how I do my hair, so that's what this post is all about. Let's start with a little background. My hair is very thick and wavy and I have a lot of it. I don't wash my hair everyday because if I did it would be a giant frizz ball. I have a wide toothed comb in the shower that I use to de-tangle my hair with the conditioner in it. I rinse, towel dry, and put a tiny bit of another conditioner in my wet hair that I leave in. It is just regular conditioner that you're supposed to rinse out, but my hairdresser told me it was ok to use a tiny bit and leave it in, especially with my type of hair. Here's what it looks like after it has air dried for a few hours:

I told you about the lack of makeup. Scary, isn't it?

If I want to be lazy, which is most of the time, I will put my hair half up and wear it like this. It is wavy on the bottom and straight on the top which is strange, but I make it work.

The day after I wash my hair, I start the curling process. First, I brush out my hair completely and this is what I look like:

Man, I wish I was a teenager in the 80s.

Then, I put most of my hair up except a small section on the bottom. Let's call this the first layer:

I get all the hair wrapped around the curling iron and hold it for a second or two. Then, I pull the iron down and slowly release the hair like so:

Once I get to the middle of the back of my head, I switch to the other side of my face and curl the opposite direction, but still away from my face. See?

When I'm done with the first layer, it looks like this:

Then, I'm ready for layer numero dos. I take some hair down and clip the rest back up and start curling the same way as before.

Now, I have a lot of hair, so I have to do about five layers, but if you have less hair you might only need three or four.

Most people have a hard time with kinks. If you clamp the curling iron down on your hair without moving it, you will get a big dent. So, don't do this:

You need to keep the iron moving until you have all the hair wound around, like this:

If your hair doesn't hold curl well, I recommend using some hairspray for each layer. Before you take down new hair, spray the finished layer. I don't really need to do this and I only use hairspray at the end if I'm going to go to a really long event like a wedding or something.

If you like the tight curl look I suppose you could stop here, but I think it's a little much.

Oh jeez, look away from the face, please.

I like to loosen the curls up, so I use my fingers like a comb and break them up.

Tada!

I really wish I had put on makeup before I did my hair that day.

Now I can make this last for a good three days. Here I am on day two:

Cute Jackson in the background and cuter Amy with makeup on. I actually like my hair better on the second day. I use a little bit of dry shampoo - I like TRESemme - and brush it all out and this is what I get.

Here I am on day three:

Much less curl, but still cute and much better than the big frizz pouf I started with.

Usually by the third day I'm ready to start over, but if you paid attention, you'd realize that I didn't wash my hair for four days. One day I left it natural and three days I had it styled. I know for some people that is totally gross, but I promise I shower and my hair doesn't smell bad. If I work out or sweat a lot, I don't let it go that long. Also, it is much better for your hair to wash it less often so the natural oils aren't stripped off. Ever heard of no poo?

If you try this or have some suggestions for how to make my process better, please comment! I looooove comments.

15
comments:

My hair is basically the opposite of yours (thin, no wave at ALL, but I do have a lot of it) and I follow the same advice about not shampooing very often. Part of that is because I'm cheap - I love my chemically-applied hair color and don't want it to fade - but mostly it's because my hair fries if I wash it all the time. I do a two-day routine with mine (third day is often to clip it up in a twist though). The only thing that gets in the way is working out, but sweat is water soluble, so I rinse, spray on a little leave-in conditioner and just make sure it doesn't smell. I am intrigued by no poo though - I have all those ingredients in my pantry, I need to give it a try!

SHUT UP!!! You're beatuiful. I wish I could go longer between washes, but I'm uber oily, and I think I don't smell fresh in between washes. I have to do every day. Plus washing everyday gives me a bit of body that I lose if I don't wash.

Great tutorial! This is very similar to what I did for a tutorial on weddingbee last fall, but I can only get away with going 2 days without washing my hair, and it actually curls better right after I've blow dried it.

I know you said the grass is always greener on the other side but I am thorougly jealous of how beautiful your hair always looks! It does look like a lot of work, but well worth it. I have very thin, limp hair (that's currently falling out from stress...so sad :( ) and if I want to give it volume I have to definitely spend a bit of time pumping it up :)

Thanks for sharing your routine...I'm so fascinated! And you're gorgeous!

You look gorgeous! Great tutorial - very helpful. I wish I could get away without shampooing every day, but I have super fine hair and it gets a mean case of the greasies if I don't wash everyday. I love your hair!